


A Smoke Break

by RubensLilium



Category: Hazbin Hotel (Web Series)
Genre: Cigarettes, Late Night Conversations, M/M, Secret Crush, Smoking, Soft Vox
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:09:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27196291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RubensLilium/pseuds/RubensLilium
Summary: After a long day of work, Angel goes to the studio balcony to have a smoke during an oddly peaceful night in hell.To his surprise, he's joined by an unexpected guest: Vox.The two share a smoke break together, where the peaceful quiet of hell seems to bring out a tender side from the both of them.
Relationships: Angel Dust & Vox (Hazbin Hotel)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 51





	A Smoke Break

**Author's Note:**

> All the original Hazbin Hotel characters belong to Vivziepop
> 
> Content Warning: mentions of rough/physical sexual activities

It was a long and quiet night in hell, which was rare considering nightfall was a time where the city seemed to be the most alive with sinners and demons alike out doing what they were condemned to do for the rest of eternity.

The soft, haloed moon that was heaven shined its soft glow upon Pentagram City, hanging high above the infamous Valentino’s porn studio. A lone balcony was at the top floor, and there stood hell’s favorite little spider:

Angel Dust.

He wore nothing but a robe, clinging to the soft fabric to keep the chill of the night off his body. Contrary to popular belief, hell had a tendency to get very cold very fast, especially at night. 

But the cold never bothered Angel. It always helped him think and recollect after a long day of his usual “sessions” with clients. 

He was done for the day now, having just delivered Valentino’s share of earnings as per their usual business exchange. The spider was on his way back to his dressing room to change and return to the hotel when he’d decided to take some alone time on the balcony for a smoke. 

And here he was, taking in the unusual sense of peace this night.

Holding an unlit cigarette.

Angel sighed, realizing he’d spent too much time idly staring out at the vibrant city. He started rummaging through his pockets to find his lighter.

He paused when he glossed over the bruises starting to show on his white-pink wrists. 

The spider winced at them. A number of his clients today were more grabby than normal. Angel was lucky to even slip in some foreplay between them pinning him to a bed or wall and going to town. 

The grabbing didn’t stop at just his wrists or arms, either. Now, Angel always enjoyed spending time with ninety percent of his clients, but there was always a _small_ percent that frequently came by that he couldn’t stand.

The ones that always got off on roughing Angel up to the point of leaving more than a few noticeable bruises on him, like the one starting to darken around his neck. 

Lucky for him, those sessions never lasted long. 

And they at least had the decency to respect Angel’s safe word (granted, he’d have to say it a handful of times for them to finally stop…)

He sighed again, grazing one hand over the bruise as his extra pair continued to search for his lighter. “Charlie’s gonna freak when she sees these.”

Then the spider finally noticed that his lighter seemed to be missing.

“Where the fuck -” he let out a groan of annoyance. “Ah, fuck me. I think I left it back at the hotel. Dammit. And I’ve been dyin’ for a smoke all day…”

“Need a light?”

The new voice startled Angel. He turned right around, surprised to find none other than the TV Overlord himself: Vox.

He stood only a few feet from Angel, a freshly lit cigarette hanging out the side of his sharp-toothed mouth.  
“M-Mista Vox,” stammered a now nervous Angel. “I-I, uh, didn’t see ya there.”

Despite being employed by Valentino for Satan knows how long now, Angel could barely count on even one of his hands how many times he’d been alone with either of the other two V’s. 

Especially Vox, even though the porn studio was practically his second home.

Sure, he’d danced for Vox a number of times, but Valentino always shooed him away afterwards when they were done looking at him.

Angel blinked then, finally noticing that Vox was offering a very detailed, black and neon blue lighter out to him.

Confused, he looked back at the flat screen demon. “Uh, ya-ya don’t mind?”

“I wouldn’t be offering if I did otherwise,” he replied, blowing out a thick cloud of cigarette smoke before finally tossing Angel his lighter.

He yipped in surprise, fumbling for a moment to catch it for half a second. Angel couldn’t help but sigh in relief to himself; he knew he would never hear the end of it from Val had he dropped that lighter. 

Vox strolled beside Angel, taking a moment to look out at the city.

Angel looked at him, holding his lighter with two hands to make sure he wouldn’t drop it.

“I-I can go let Mista Valentino know ya here, if ya want?”

Vox tapped some ash off his cigarette. “No need. I’m just here to drop off some things he wanted me to bring.”

Angel, wanting to be polite, took up Vox’s offer and flipped up the lid to his very extravagant lighter. He placed his thumb on the spark wheel to light his cigarette but he struggled. Not only because the spark wheel was a tough one to turn, but also because of how sore his wrists were thanks to his many sessions today with those aggressive clients. 

Vox, leaning against the balcony rails, glanced at the spider after a moment when he noticed him having trouble. A wide smirk found its way on his flat-screened face and he chuckled.

“Need a hand?”

“No, I-I…” but finally Angel sighed in defeat and handed him his lighter back.

With just a swift hand motion, Vox turned the spark wheel and ignited the lighter, a small, bright blue flame appearing. 

He leveled it towards Angel so he could finally burn his long-awaited cigarette.

“Never took you for a guy with weak wrists, Angie.” The TV teased, catching Angel off guard.

He averted his eyes to the side. “I usually don’t. But, uh…” he laughed nervously, “It’s been a long day of work fa me, if ya couldn’t already tell.”

Vox took a moment to look over Angel, his eyes lingering on a bruise he was seemingly trying to hide. He exhaled another cloud of smoke, sliding his red gaze towards the city again.

“...Man,” Vox muttered after a moment, “it is way too damn quiet out there.”

“I know,” Angel agreed. “Like an annual Cleansing level of quiet.” 

“I mean, nobody’s screaming. No guns are being fired. No bombs going off. It’s just...calm.”

Angel took another drag from his cigarette. “I dunno about you, but it’s actually kinda nice.” 

“You think so?” questioned the TV host. “I can’t stand when it’s quiet. Puts me on edge. Probably explains why I’m down to the last two cigarettes. Just bought this pack a couple hours ago, too.”

Angel looked at him with a slightly raised brow. Now that he mentioned it, he did seem a little tense, which was quite out of character for him.

Vox was always the first to crack jokes and mock Valentino whenever he was in one of his moods, wearing a grin on his face so wide that it could even give Alastor a run for his money. 

Seeing him so apprehensive made Angel do a double take.

He quickly looked away so that Vox wouldn’t catch him staring.

“I know what you mean,” he sympathized, looking back at the distance with his cigarette held between two fingers. “Ain’t like hell’s known for bein’ such a calm and quiet place, am I right?” 

That got a light chuckle from Vox. “Tell me about it. I’m half expecting that whackjob inventor and his army of fried chicken fetuses to suddenly pop in and blow the city up to kingdom come.”

“If he doesn’t blow himself up first!”

Their soft chuckle grew into harmonious laughter, Vox about half a second from slapping his knee he was laughing so hard. 

If that old geezer Sir Pentious was good at anything, it was using his misery to get a good laugh out. 

Vox cleared his throat, rubbing a tear from his eye as his grin still beamed. 

“Ah, shit.” He breathed. “I needed that.”

Angel’s laughter slowly died down, until he heard Vox say:

“I always knew Val stole his witty sense of humor from you.”

He blinked, curious by that.

“Val wasn’t half as quick with the funny jabs until he brought you on board. He was always one step too late to the punchline with Velvet’s jokes, when they weren’t going over his fucking head, anyways.” 

With his cigarette now down to the butt, Vox dropped it to the ground and crushed it under his boot, unaware that Angel was staring wide-eyed at him. 

“But, then again, you know as well as I do that Val’s all business first and fun later.”

“Well, when you run a business like his -”

“Aw, c’mon, Angie. Just admit it. The guy’s got a needle stuck up his ass as big as your stripper pole,” he laughed. 

Angel couldn’t help but bite his tongue. As tempting as it was, he wasn’t about to disrespect his boss under the roof of his own business.

Vox glanced at him, catching that hesitant look on his face.

“Well, then again I can get away with saying that. He’d probably punch my face into little pieces but hey, sometimes it’s worth it.”

“Yeah,” Angel nervously replied. “Mista Valentino says you get a real kick outta pissin’ ‘im off. H-His words, not mine.”

He frantically added that last part as fast as possible. Val despised being discussed about when his back was turned, but he also didn’t want to come off rude towards Vox either. 

Vox unapologetically shrugged, radiating a smugness that only someone like him had. “He’s too fun to piss off. Always gives the best reactions to my bullshit.”

From his coat pocket, he slipped out the pack of cigarettes he mentioned before. Angel noticed how flat the box was, possibly from being handled so much by a pair of tense hands.

From it, the TV demon pulled out a stick with his mouth.

“So, you on break or something?” he suddenly inquired, surprising Angel once again.

He never took Vox for such a conversationalist.

Then again, Angel remembered that the guy did have to talk charismatically for a living. 

“Nope, just turned in for the night. Had to drop off Mista Valentino’s cut of my pay.”

“Jesus,” snickered Vox, a smirk brimming on the side of his face, “he makes you call him that during off hours too? Talk about a fucking egomaniac.” 

“Ah, well, just-just when we’re in the studio.” 

“With how much he works you, you two should be on a first name basis.” He commented. “None of that ‘mista’ bullshit.”

When Angel didn’t reply, Vox added: “Ah, but again... _I_ can get away with saying that.”

Angel took in a drag from his half-gone cigarette. But he didn’t show any reluctance like before, giving the TV a soft look that reflected his silent agreement. He was glad at least someone outside the hotel acknowledged how hard he worked as one of Val’s ‘personal favorites’.

“That’s anotha thing Mista Valentino always says about ya,” Angel said with a light smile, “you’re unapologetically you no matter what.”

“Which no doubt gets under his skin.”

“Sure it does, but you know...I kinda envy that.”

Now Vox blinked, falling into a pause with that unlit cigarette hanging from his mouth. 

“Ya don’t let anyone push ya around, ya don’t haf’ta change who you are for someone else’s approval...never haf’ta second guess what other people think of ya.”

Vox stared at Angel, catching just a glimpse of a strange look in the spider’s eyes for a moment before he quickly gave a shrug, acting aloof.

“Ah, don’t listen ta me,” he chuckled, putting out his cigarette. “I tend ta ramble when I’m tired.”

He combed his pink claws through his white hair, recomposing himself. 

“Anyways, I’ll leave ya be. We both got somewhere ta be tonight, I’m sure.” 

He stopped when Vox suddenly held out his pack to Angel, containing one last stick of his brand of cigarettes. 

“For the road,” he offered.

Angel paused, debating whether or not to accept. “O-Oh, no, Mista Vox, I couldn’t. It’s your last -”

“Call it a thanks for the good laugh you gave me,” he insisted, “besides, it’s not like I pay for my own brand.”

“You don’t?”

“I could...but am I gonna?” he smirked, giving the spider a playful look.

Angel giggled at that, which coaxed him into accepting the cigarette.

Vox put the empty pack away and pulled his fancy lighter back out. “Want me to light it for you? Wouldn’t want to hurt those little dainty wrists of yours.” 

“Hey, they may be dainty, but they get the job done,” Angel smirked. “If ya catch my drift?”

Vox lit his cigarette with a chuckle, that side-grin of his wide and taking up a good half of his flat-screen face.

Angel held his in his mouth, awaiting Vox to turn the flame over to him.

He wasn’t expecting Vox - his freshly lit stick in his mouth - to slowly lean in towards him. He jolted, but was frozen to the spot. His eyes widening as he watched the TV move in until the ends of their cigarettes were touching. 

He stopped there, maintaining an ever-so-close gap between him and the blushing spider.

Angel was dumbfounded, glad he kept his mouth closed otherwise he’d have dropped the cigarette. 

But Vox remained casual, as if he’d done this trick a hundred times before now. Yet he never took his eyes off Angel.

Their gazes locked; Angel’s look of surprise and shock meeting Vox’s tender yet empathetic stare.

He could feel his heart start to pound, unable to turn away from Vox. 

It wasn’t until the tip of Angel’s cigarette started to burn did the TV finally pull away, taking his own stick between two claws and exhaling the smoke out of the corner of his mouth so it wouldn’t blow into Angel’s direction. 

Yet Angel was still frozen in place with that very noticeable blush across his cheeks, trying to process what had just happened.

Vox slipped both his claws into his pockets, walking past Angel and talking with his cigarette in his mouth. “You got a nice smile.”

Angel watched him walk away, but blinked when Vox abruptly stopped at the exit, just to add:

“ _My_ words. Not Val’s.” 

With that said, the TV host finally took his leave.

Angel barely moved from that spot, still awestruck by what had just happened. But that blush was covering every inch of his cheeks, unsure what he was feeling at this moment. 

He finally removed the cigarette from his mouth, blowing out a thin cloud of smoke in the process. 

...A smile slowly spread across Angel’s face, looking down at the cigarette between his claws. 

He tried not to read too much into his actions; didn’t want to look for something that wasn’t present. But he couldn’t help but smile right now.

“Guess you’re more of a charmer than I thought...Mista Vox,” he giggled.

**Author's Note:**

> Noticed that VoxXAngel was trending for a while, and it's honestly a cute ship that I can totally get behind. I know Vox is BFF's (or BF's if you ship it lol) with Val, but I like the idea that Vox is an asshole to everyone except Angel because of a secret crush he has on him.
> 
> I could see him having a tender side for someone he cares about.
> 
> Also, yes, I am a huge sucker for subtle romantic gestures like cigarette kisses, they give me life.
> 
> Hope you guys enjoyed :)


End file.
